Metro 2A, 7 running at 33% capacity: Data | Mumbai news

Mumbai: More than two years after full-fledged operations commenced on Metro lines 2A and 7, also known as yellow and red line respectively, ridership remains stuck at barely one-third or 33% of the estimated numbers.

Figures released on Tuesday by the Maha Mumbai Metro Operation Corporation Limited (MMMOCL), which operates the two lines, showed the daily average passenger count was 220,000 while the anticipated average was 650,000.

The 18.6-km long line 2A runs from Dahisar to DN Nagar, while the 16.5-km long line 7 runs from Dahisar to Andheri East. Fully operationalised in January 2023, the two lines have ferried over 158 million passengers till date, data showed.

Around 55% passengers bought digital tickets via WhatsApp, mobile apps (Mumbai 1, Yatri) and the National Common Mobility Card, while 45 % bought QR code-based paper tickets. In October 2024, when MMOCL launched WhatsApp ticketing, QR code-based paper tickets accounted for 62% of the total ticket sales.

MMOCL celebrated the rise in digital ticketing through a post on microblogging platform X on Tuesday, saying, “With 269,602 passengers using the Mumbai 1 Card, seamless and hassle-free travel has become a reality.”

But commuters and activists attributed the low ridership and rise in digital ticketing to mismanagement and an excessive online push.

“No wonder the two metro lines are operating at 33% of expected ridership,” said activist Zoru Bathena, a regular metro user. “The authorities seem to have reduced the interval between trains during peak hours, while at other times, hardly any train is crowded,” he said.

“At some stations, all ticketing windows are shut and the staff tell passengers to book tickets by scanning stickers with QR codes in a bid to promote digital ticketing,” said Haresh Sharma, another commuter and resident of Dahisar.

Other commuters wondered why MMOCL had developed a separate app for ticketing, Mumbai 1, when metro tickets can be bought via Indian Railways’ Yatri app. Though the Yatri app has been around for long, the option to book tickets for metro services in various cities was introduced only in December 2024, said sources in the railways.

The highest daily ridership on the two metro lines, at around 292,000, was recorded on October 8 last year.